19.11.2007

Lappeenranta Undo Keravnos

Adrian Henning, Petri Virtanen, Ivan Harris and Pasi Olavi Riihela all poured in 17 points as Lappeenranta posted an 87-71 victory over Keravnos Nicosia.

Patrick Lee and Giorgos Anastasiadis both grabbed 15 points and five rebounds for the visitors.

The hosts started sluggishly and it wasn't until right at the end of the second quarter that they managed to really get in the game.

But once Virtanen's three-pointer shot them into a 39-36 lead they never looked back.

Keravnos had started the brighter, sinking five points to storm into an early 5-0 lead but before they could pull ahead more Lappeenranta sunk seven points with no reply to claw their way to a 7-5 advantage.

And although the start of the second quarter saw the Cypriot side with a nine-point advantage, leading 28-19, the hosts never looked in too much trouble.

Lappeenranta went into a nine-point lead midway through the third quarter but Keravnos managed to pull it back to open the final quarter with only a 59-55 deficit.

But the home team were in scintillating form and Virtanen poured in eight points as they stormed to victory.

Keravnos now need to get something from the return match on November 27.

19.11.2007

Quotes Lappeenranta vs. Keravnos Nicosia

Keravnos coach, Vasilis Fragias:

"We were ready for this game. We knew their setgames, everything about them. But even if your plans and tactics are good, you have to keep your consentration, and that's alwasy a big mystery to me. I have to say gongratulations to Lappeenranta. They played well, and earned their victory. I told my players that this is difficult game, but when we were eight points ahead in the beginning, my players thought it was over. Lappeenranta had a positive energy, we didn't."

Lappeenranta coach, Mika Turunen:

"This is big victory for us, and a very big thing for Finnish basketball. If five players score over 10 points in an international game, that is something. I'm very proud of this team. Even when our big player (Ulander) got injured at the beginning and we had a lot of mis-matches, we still fought and created problems for them. I have never seen in a Eurocup game a team finishing a a game with only three turnovers like we did."

Keravnos player, Giorgos Anastasiadis:

"We came to Lappeenranta with some good self-confidence. At the beginning we shot very well and we thought that the game was easy. Something happened, and we started to play in a passive way. Our coach told us that we should keep our game under control, but we couldn't do that. Still, this was only the first part of two games, and we have 40 more minutes to amke amends and qualify to the next round."

Lappeenranta player, Pasi Riihelä:

"We had a nasty surprise at the beginning when our center Aki Ulander got injured. We were playing pretty okay at the beginning, but still they were hitting all of their shots. Our own three-point shooting was terrible, we only started to hit our shots in the second half.  It is going to be a tough game next Tuesday. Their gym is totally different from ours in Lappeenranta, and we have to be ready for that. I heard that they play in a small gym, so it will be a big advantage for them."